Foxx prepares to lead 2001 MTV video awards

Jamie Foxx might have been kidding when talking about what he has in store for the opening of "The 2001 MTV Video Music Awards Show" (8 p.m. today), but he sounded pretty serious.

"I'm coming with a hip-hop opera," said the comic during a phone interview.

Then he mockingly launched into a ballad version of the party anthem "Gin & Juice."

"We're going like that," he said. "It's going to be nice."

It's also fitting: The show is live from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

"We're going to do this symphony thing where I will be in the tux and the tails and (there will be) horns, just like in an opera. We're going to tie all the songs together in a hip-hop style with a real symphony."

Foxx, who went to college on a classical piano scholarship, wrote the medley. "I never thought I'd have to use it for MTV," he deadpanned.

Not all performances will be satirical. U2, 'N Sync and Alicia Keys are among the artists to sing.

Britney Spears, who stole the show last year by stripping down to a snug, revealing costume during a performance, will unveil her new song "I'm a Slave 4 U" from her upcoming, third album.

Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" leads the ballot with nine nominations. It features Christopher Walken dancing down steps, atop tables and even in midair throughout the lobby of a hotel. Spike Jonze directed "Weapon."

Recent MTV defector Johnny Knoxville will be among the presenters. He and Jonze run the production company that created "Jackass."

"We're going to make it a party," Foxx said of the show. "A lot of times, it kind of runs out of steam (in that) two-and-a-half hour because it's a three-hour show."

Funkmaster Flex will accompany Foxx. "We're going to try and see if we can't party three hours and make you feel that when we are coming out of the commercial," he said.

Foxx follows in the path of Marlon and Shawn Wayans, who raised eyebrows when they hosted the show and skewered some of the nominees. Foxx, who is also helping to write the show, said he won't go there.

"We won't be as heavy as far as hitting all the artists," he said. "It will be more of poking fun and really ... making cracks. It's really all about the party.

"For me, we're going to just talk about some of the things that are absolutely, completely obvious. We won't go out of our way to smash somebody to pieces because we want them to have a good time, too."

MTV has asked Foxx to tone it down, too.

"We were coming wild at first," said the 33-year-old. "... It's kind of like (MTV said) 'Just be careful.' Some of the people that are actually coming" are going to be roped into some of the routines.

Film spoofs aren't out of the question. "We are trying to figure out something that would be spicy," he said.

A formal Aaliyah tribute isn't planned, but "everybody is feeling (her loss) so there will be people on their own saying things," he said. "I'm going to let them do their thing."

Aaliyah, a rising star in the urban pop world, died in a plane crash in August. She had been in the Bahamas shooting a music video.